WordPress 2.4 is now WordPress 2.5 due in March. Mandatory WordPress security release. Update now. Uninstalling Plugins finds a possible fix. Vote for WordPress.com. New WordPress groups formed. WordPress Help Sheet. Users talking back to WordPress Plugin authors, asking for their support of their users. bbPress updated. Akismet goes .Net. And more WordPress news.

WordPress News

WordPress 2.4 Delayed – Now Will Be WordPress 2.5 in March:Weblog Tools Collection and others announced that WordPress 2.4 has been delayed in order to give more time to the development of the new Administration Panel interface and other improvements and features. The next major release of WordPress is scheduled for March, not January, and will be WordPress 2.5. This is not the first time WordPress has skipped a version, and each time, it’s been worth it.

Mandatory Security Release WordPress 2.3.2:WordPress 2.3.2 has been released and is a mandatory security upgrade. The full details of the update include an urgent security release to fix a vulnerability in draft posts, suppression of some errors messages that may put your database at risk, and other bug fixes. Upgrade to WordPress 2.3.2 now.WARNING: I’ve seen many bloggers announce the new WordPress security update, debating publicly about whether or not they should upgrade or wait for the next major version. You’ve just told hackers that your blog is open for hacking. Take care in making your WordPress version public, and opening yourself up blatantly to attacks. If you choose to upgrade or not, that’s up to you, but why advertise your version vulnerabilities?

Someone Listened to the Plugins Uninstall Issue: One of the things that has worried many, including myself, is the lack of a “full uninstall” of WordPress Plugins. If you deactivate them, their database tables remain in your WordPress database. While not the end of the world, it takes up unnecessary space and could cause conflicts. Jeffro 2.0 of Weblog Tools Collections brings up the subject of uninstalling Plugins and within a few days, we have the start of an answer. Andrew Rickmann created a tool that creates an uninstallation option on the Plugins Panel which will appear if the Plugin has been deactivated and the Plugin author has created an uninstall file which will remove the data from the database. A lot of work is needed, as well as your help, to create a solid Plugin uninstallation tool. There are a lot of things to consider such as deactivating Plugins temporarily for an upgrade or bug hunt, and if the user might want to consider using the Plugin in the future with the current data. Still, this is a great step in the right direction.

WordPress 2.4 Administration Panel Previews: The buzz around the new backend WordPress Administration Panels for the upcoming January release has arrived. Tubetorial has a “WordPress 2.4 Administration Panel Preview” video which shows just what has been done to date, with a lot more to come. Hyper SVN has a “live” demo of the new WordPress Administration Panels. Expect many of these sneak previews hitting the web as everyone wants to be the first to show it off. Also, expect to see a lot of changes before this release and the next few versions as the Administration Panels get fine tuned.

WordPress on Your Calendar:Nashville, Tennessee, now has a WordPress group. WordCamp Dallas in March has opened registration and has a terrific line up of top speakers on WordPress, video, podcasting, multimedia, and blogging. In Denmark, there is a WordPress 2.5 gathering in April where fans of WordPress will get together to celebrate and learn more about the latest version of WordPress.

Are you involved with a WordPress group or club in your area? Make sure you announce meetings on the WordPress Meetup list and let me know so I can help promote your group’s activities. Here are some WordPress-related dates and events to put on your calendar as found on the WordPress Roadmap and the WordPress Meetup Group Listings (subject to change):

If you are having a WordPress-related event that isn’t on the calendar, post them below or via email.

WordPress 2.4 Digest: In last week’s WordPress weekly digest, Westi reported on many improvements and fixes to the next version of WordPress including introduction of a new tag for separation of cookie generation, filtering of available WordPress Themes based upon Theme tags which describe the type of design the user is seeking, more work on the WXR importer and translation options, introduction of a new method to get the comment count on feeds, a new setting within the API for post types, integration of the popular Optimal Title Plugin into the core, introduction of auto-suggest for entering tags to the native tag feature, more documentation, improvements to the Rich Text Editor interface to remember which one you used last (visual or code) and easier switching, and a new interface for selecting which WordPress Widgets to use in the different sidebars.

Graffitti: In Graffitti disses WordPress, there is a lot of discussion of how a commercial CMS program is taking advantage of WordPress fame to promote its wares. There is little to compare the two programs as Graffitti is still in the testing stages and WordPress is really not its competition. CMS programs are. WordPress can handle the competition. Can WordPress fans handle a commercial company abusing WordPress? Many are a bit upset with Graffitti’s ad campaign targeting WordPress. Even Matt Mullenweg chimes in. This is just a reminder to not be fooled by those taking advantage of WordPress. If the program is good enough, it will be great competition. If it is a scam, let people know but don’t give it the publicity it seeks. With all the hype, a lot of people now know about Graffitti who had never heard of it before.

Vote for WordPress Ideas: Want your say in the next version of WordPress? The WordPress Ideas section on WordPress is an open forum for you to have your say. Why not take advantage of it and add your voice to the vote.

Interesting WordPress Plugins: There are so many interesting WordPress Plugins released each week. Have you been paying attention?

Smart Sort WordPress Plugin places a sort bar above or below a list of posts within a category or archive in your WordPress Theme template to allow sorting of posts by any custom field.

Bunny’s Language Linker WordPress Plugin allows you to include links to “sister” Pages of translated versions. For example, if you blog in multiple languages, you can have your “About” Page in English, French, Spanish, and/or German. The Plugin adds a form to your Page Panel to include the page slug (URL) to each language version of your About Page which appears on each About Page

WordPress Community News

bbPress Upgrade Released: An upgrade and bug-fix release of bbPress 0.8.3.1 was announced which makes the forum program compatible with the latest version of WordPress and includes improvements for topic labeling and “bozo” marking, which allows users to note when a participant is an idiot. I’d like that feature on some of my blogs. :D

Get Your Hoodies!WordPress Hoodies are here and will start shipping again January 2nd, so get your warm sweatshirt with a hood now and proudly let the world know you are WordPress-cool this year. Buy an extra for a friend or family member at the WordPress Shop.

WordPress Installed For Free: If you have problems installing the full version of WordPress, visit Installing WordPress for Free (aka Install4Free WordPress). This free, volunteer-driven service is limited to personal blogs only, and they help only with installations, not upgrades.

Using WordPress in Your Blog’s Name: WordPress is a trademark and you are not allowed to use WordPress in your blog’s name or URL unless you have permission of Automattic and WordPress. Also, remember, it’s spelled “WordPress” not “WordPress”. Oh, and Plugin is Plugin, not plug-in (what you put into a wall electrical socket).

If You Are Reading This: If you are reading this blog post NOT on the Blog Herald or from within your feed reader, it is being used against the copyright policy of the copyright owners. Please report it immediately so action may be taken to break some heads and feed scraping blogs.

WordPress News Sources

Each Wednesday on Blog Herald is WordPress Wednesday, featuring the news around the WordPress Community. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact me at this special email address: lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com

Hmm, good question. You had best ask in the WordPressMU forum or search there for an answer. I’ll check myself. WordPressMU released an update recently, which did include some security issues, but I’m not sure if the recent issues apply.

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